Binbir Kilise

Binbir Kilise means a thousand and one churches, which is an exaggeration in the Turkish manner, but the count on the Karadağ plateau north of Karaman runs to several dozen - churches, chapels, monasteries and tombs of the fifth to ninth centuries, built of black volcanic stone laid without mortar, standing to varying heights across two villages and the slopes between them. Madenşehir has the largest concentration, with basilicas whose arcades and apses are still up, and Değle higher on the mountain has more, scattered through pasture. Nobody knows precisely why so many were built on one barren massif; a monastic settlement of some scale is the usual explanation. The site was surveyed in the early twentieth century by Gertrude Bell and W. M. Ramsay, whose photographs record buildings that have since collapsed further. It is unfenced, unexcavated, uninterpreted and almost never visited - sheep graze among the walls.

The main sights

• The black stone churches - basilicas of unmortared volcanic rock.
• The Madenşehir cluster - the main group in the lower village.
• The Değle ruins - more churches higher on the mountain.
• The empty plateau - pasture and grazing among the walls.

When to go

May to June and September to October. The plateau is exposed - hot and shadeless in summer, cold and windy in winter, with snow closing the upper tracks.

Good to know

There is no signage, no ticket and no facilities of any kind. Tracks to Değle are rough and need clearance. Ruins are unconsolidated and unstable. Bring water and expect to be alone.

Nearby

Karaman and its Karamanid monuments are 40 km south; Konya is about an hour and a half north-west.

Key facts